2025 Annual Report

The Hypergrowth Startup Index

How the fastest-growing startups are scaling differently

Executive Summary

In the 19th century, Horatio Alger wrote stories about young entrepreneurs who worked their way from rags to riches, coining the concept of "The American Dream," where anyone with a good idea and a strong work ethic can be successful.

Today, there’s a renaissance of opportunity in the business world, “The Unicorn Dream.” Growth is accelerating and any startup, no matter the size, has a chance at reaching a $1B valuation. With a good idea and the right resources, new businesses can go from a few developers in a garage to billion-dollar valuations in just a few short years. Perplexity, for example, was founded in 2022, has under 200 employees, and is already valued at nearly $10 billion dollars following a massive $500M round from IVP.

“Jeff Bussgang talks about the ‘10x founder,’ which demonstrates where we can aspire to and how much can be done by an individual founder today,” shares Mark Roberge, Co-founder at Stage 2 Capital and host of “The Science of Scaling” podcast.

With a pattern of larger, more strategic rounds in recent years, and a rising interest in strategic partnerships, investors are focusing on quality over quantity, and making big bets for the future. AI and machine learning startups, as well as tech and software companies, are dominating the high-growth space, largely funded by VCs. And new growth hubs are emerging in countries like Singapore, the United Kingdom, India, and France.

Investors are looking for lean, focused startups that quickly achieve product-market fit and show high growth rates in a short timeframe. “We really like vertical software plays that are very capital efficient. People are deploying as much product as they used to do in a quarter in two weeks. And we’re about to see the same benefits on the go-to-market (GTM) side. In reality, at some point in the future, we’re going to be able to build and distribute products for one-tenth of the cost. That changes the game,” says Roberge.

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The Current State of Startup Growth

Part 1

The Anatomy of a Fast-Growing Startup

Part 2

The Fastest Growing Startups & List of Top Unicorns

Part 3

Exploring Hypergrowth Tech Companies

Part 4

The Future of Startup Growth

Part 5

Making the Best Investments to Scale Success

Part 6

Methodology

This report defines “fastest-growing” as the top 100 private, investment-backed companies founded within the past three years valued at over $100 million. Unicorns are defined as privately held companies valued at over $1B. We sourced the data from PitchBook Data, Inc. in February 2025, and interviewed the experts quoted throughout in February and March 2025.

In addition to the Pitchbook Data, this report combines insights from six industry experts. Our panel features unicorn co-founders, GTM specialists, and VC partners whose collective expertise illuminates the strategies driving today's fastest-growing startups. They include:

  • Varun Anand and Kareem Amin, Co-founders of Clay
  • Godard Abel, CEO/Co-founder, G2
  • Laura McGinnis, Principal, Balderton, Capital
  • John Hu, CEO/Co-founder, Stan Store
  • Mark Roberge, Co-founder/Managing Director, Stage 2 Capital
  • Kishore Kothandaraman, COO/Co-founder, Goldcast

The Hypergrowth Startup Index

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